


One day at a time

by queermicah



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Abused Harry Potter, Abusive Dursley Family (Harry Potter), Good Severus Snape, Harry Potter Needs a Hug, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Kid Fic, Kid!Harry, Mentor Severus Snape, Severitus | Severus Snape is Harry Potter's Parent, Severus Snape Adopts Harry Potter, Worse than canon Dursleys, abuse recovery, cute!harry
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-04
Updated: 2021-01-04
Packaged: 2021-03-14 13:48:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,930
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28546608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queermicah/pseuds/queermicah
Summary: A collection of interconnected one-shots of Severus Snape taking in and taking care of an abused kid!Harry shortly after his fifth birthday.
Relationships: Harry Potter & Severus Snape
Comments: 16
Kudos: 142





	One day at a time

**Author's Note:**

> I will try to keep these in some semblance of order but since I will just be writing these snippets as I think of them, that order may quickly fall apart. I have a number of ideas already for over the years and I have a planned ending to this collection, but suggestions of important milestones or adventures are always welcome. Updates will be sporadic. Enjoy!
> 
> TW for descriptions of injuries caused by abuse.

The day that everything changed for Severus Snape was shortly after Harry Potters 5th birthday. They blood wards around the house collapsed at six in the evening prompting Albus Dumbledore to summon the resident potions master to his office. When he arrived, he found Dumbledore pacing, a high pitching whistling emanating from one of the many odd, silver objects he had on a side table. Severus resisted the urge to clap his hands over his ears, the sound was piercing straight into his brain, he could already feel a headache beginning to form.

“What in _Merlin’s name_ is that awful sound supposed to be for?” he sneered, glaring at the offending object.

“Ah, Severus,” Albus cessed his pacing and turned to face Severus, “How wonderful of you to come.”

Severus exhaled heavily through his nose in exasperation, “You summoned me here Albus. The true question is why?”

“Oh, so I did.” Albus replied jovially, blue eyes twinkling away. Severus scowled, nothing good ever came from that blasted twinkle. “I’m afraid I must monopolise your time this evening, as you can see one of my alarms is going off and we must make haste to see to it.”

The dour man folded his arms across his chest, making no move to entertain the Headmaster in whatever convoluted plan he was cooking up. “And what, may I ask, is that alarm supposed to signify.”

“The blood wards around Harry’s house have fallen.” He said much too mildly for the content of his sentence.

Severus ground his teeth, _of course_ it would be that infernal brat that would ruin his evening. He had spent the last few years blissfully ignoring his existence. “So what? Did the brat throw a tantrum and tear them down?” he scoffed.

“Severus,” Albus chided, “You know as well as I do that that wouldn’t cause the wards to fall.”

He pinched the bridge of his nose, “Why have you called me to accompany you, surely you can handle this?”

Albus rounded his desk and met Severus where he stood, “It would be wise to have backup in case someone else is watching the house.”

Severus understood the underlying message to the words. Death Eaters. Those who had escaped Azkaban were bound to still be looking for the boy who caused their Lords downfall. He dipped his head in acknowledgement and followed Albus to the floo.

“Number 2 Wisteria Walk.” Albus called walking calmly into the emerald flames.

Bracing himself for having to see Potter’s spawn Severus took a pinch of the floo powder from the mantle and quickly followed the Headmaster to Arabella Figg’s house.

* * *

After brief pleasantries with Arabella, who smelled too strongly of cabbage for Severus’ liking, they made their way down the sidewalk to number 4 Privat Drive. A heavy feeling of foreboding was churning in his stomach as he made his way past the identical houses to the one they wanted. From what he understood about the blood wards around the Dursley house he should have felt them by now, they were supposed to blanket a hundred meters or so around the home but there was nothing. No sign of magic whatsoever was emanating in the area, not even the trace of it. Something wasn’t right here. As he drew closer to the front door, he began to become even more concerned, even without the wards there should be traces of Harry’s magic around the house. Surely, he went outside to play? Maybe he played in the backyard rather than out front? He needn’t get ahead of himself. Not yet, there was still a reasonable explanation.

Albus took charge and knocked briskly on the door. There was silence for several moments, long enough for Severus to wonder if the family wasn’t home before thumping footfalls could be heard and the door was flung open a morbidly obese man glaring at them. The potions master couldn’t stop the curl of his lip at the sight of the man, not only was the size of a whale his moustache made him resemble a puce walrus. He was panting despite only walking down the hallway. _This_ was who Albus left the beloved Harry Potter with?

“What?!” The man snapped, clearly displeased at their presence at the door, “I said when I took the _freak_ in, I wouldn’t put up with you lot appearing on my doorstep harassing us normal folk.”

Severus bit back a scathing retort, nothing about the man standing in front of him was normal. That foreboding feeling that had been building since he noticed the lack of wards was back. The level of vitriol coating the word ‘ _freak_ ’ had him on edge. Echoes of his father screaming at him that he was an ‘ _abomination_ ’ rang in his ears.

“Mr Dursley,” Albus said pleasantly, though Severus could hear how tight his voice was, “I apologise for our untimely interruption, may we come in?”

For a moment it looked as though Vernon was going to refuse them entry, but Severus simply fingered his wand and the obese man huffed and turned to stomp back down the hallway to the kitchen leaving the two wizards to step into the house and shut the door.

They quietly followed and Severus took the opportunity to look around. There were many framed photographs of Mr and Mrs Dursley and a rather rotund blond child. There wasn’t a single photo that included a boy that looked like Potter. It was if he didn’t exist in the house. Severus felt his blood run cold, he knew at that moment that the foreboding feeling from earlier was going ring true. Nothing about this house was normal.

Entering the kitchen, he was greeted with Vernon Dursley continuing to stuff his face with his roast dinner as if he hadn't been interrupted, the blond child from the photos was doing the same. A bony Petunia was stiffly picking at her food looking at them with contempt. There was no sign of Harry. No place for him at the table. No dishes in the sink to indicate that he had already eaten. Where was he?

Petunia pursed her lips at him, clearly, she remembered him but didn’t want to admit to it.

“We wish to see Harry,” Albus said mildly but leaving no room in his tone for argument.

“Why?” Petunia asked tightly, eyes darting to the hallway for a brief second. She was worried about something. What kind of state was Harry in?

“To check his wellbeing and we’ll be on our way.”

Vernon growled and hauled himself to his feet and stomped into the hallway. Severus watched with bated breath as he suddenly stopped at a small door under the stairs. Panic raised in his chest. Were they too late?! Had they stuffed the child’s body in the boot cupboard?! A latch on the door was ripped open and the door flung hard enough to slam against the stairwell. Vernon reached a fleshy arm into the dark space and pulled. A tiny child dressed in rags was pulled unceremoniously from the cupboard and dropped to the carpet.

Vernon left him there and stomped away and into the sitting room. Severus took a cautious step forward out of the kitchen and into the hallway, trying not to startle the boy. He was still crumpled on the ground, shaking whether from fear of the cold, Severus wasn’t sure, but the whole tiny frame was wracked with tremors. He was no bigger than Draco had been at aged 3. He doubted he had grown much from the time he had been dropped off to his Aunt and Uncle’s house.

“Harry?” he asked softly.

The boy didn’t respond, but slowly began to pull himself up onto his feet. It was then that Severus saw the deep purple bruises that littered his skin. Distinct fingerprints on his arms, no doubt from being grabbed like he had just been. A deep purple bruise on his eye that had swollen it shut. He could see that chunks of his hair were missing, possibly from being dragged by it and bite marks on his arms that judging by the size were from his cousin. He hated to think about what was being hidden by the clothes that were swamping him, the t-shirt alone came down to his knees. Harry didn’t look at him, his head was bowed, looking at his feet.

“Harry?” he tried again, taking another step forward.

“His name is freak!” the cousin crowed from the doorway before he was guided away by a stone-faced Petunia.

True to the cousin’s word, at ‘freak’ the boy raised his head and even Severus, who’s heart was cold and locked behind stone, couldn’t help but feel his heart break for the boy in front of him who was looking up at him through one black eye. Those green eyes that had been so beautiful on Lily were swimming with fear and pain that he couldn’t even begin to fathom. It wasn’t even the fact that this was Lily’s child. _NO_ child deserved this. He stepped further into the hallway and dropped to his knees in front of the child who was wiping the blood dripping from his nose onto the hem of his oversized shirt but was still eyeing him warily. Pulling a handkerchief from his pocket Severus slowly reached out in an attempt to stem the bleeding. It wouldn’t do to completely overwhelm Harry with magic right now when he was already in such a state, he barely looked to be holding on to consciousness at it was. Regardless of his slow and deliberate movements the boy flinched back so violently Severus was worried he had given himself whip lash. The movement was so harsh that he teetered on too thin legs and before he could even contemplate what he was doing Severus scooped the boy into his arms and pulled him to his chest before he could fall. Harry stiffened beneath his hands, going so still that if it wasn’t for the laboured, wheezy breathing puffing next to his ear Severus would be concerned he was dead. But Harry didn’t attempt to fight him, so he gently began rubbing on long finger slowly up and down the boy’s spine, trying not to overwhelm him too much with his touch. He fought the urge to curse the Muggles as his fingertip bumped up and down over every vertebra, this was beyond the pale the child was nothing but skin and bone.

“Shh Harry, it’s going to be okay. You’re not staying here I promise.” Severus kept mummering quiet reassurances into Harry’s ear, not caring for the blood, snot and tears that were soaking into the collar of his usually pristine robes. He was going to keep his word; he would make sure Harry grew up away from this hell even if he had to raise him himself. He had never wanted kids in his life, he loathed being a teacher after all but the pain and desperation in the child’s eyes when he gazed up at him broke through every defence he had. This went beyond grudges towards a father that this boy would barely remember, he had to do this for Lily, for her wee boy who had done nothing wrong.

All at once he felt Harry go limp in his arms, gently tipping him back but supporting his neck with his hand Severus deduced that had probably passed from a combination of pain and sheer overwhelmingness of the situation. Unfortunately, everything seemed to go lax when Harry passed out, including his bladder which had released down Severus’ front. Stifling a sigh, he moved one of his arms to continue to hold the tiny boy protectively to his chest and used the other to aid him to get to his feet. Once standing he quickly drew his wand and cleaning and dried the pair of them, ignoring the small puddle that had formed on the hallway carpet. The Dursley’s could clean that up themselves.

“Albus he needs to be seen urgently.” He murmured to his employer who was looking at them, blue eyes as hard as steel.

He nodded, “Go on ahead to Poppy, I’ll be there shortly.”

Severus didn’t deign to answer and simply swept from the house. Tucking Harry’s small form under his outer cloak he quickly traced his steps back to Arabella’s house. Without even stopping to give her a cusory glance he flooed to the Hogwarts Infirmary. Time was of the essence and he didn’t want to waste any more time. He needed to make sure Harry wasn’t going to slip away on them. He needed Lily’s boy to be okay. He needed to make up for the scathing thoughts he had thought about the child over the years. He needed to take care of him.

* * * 

Poppy Pomfrey looked up from her paperwork that she had on her desk when Severus entered her office. While she had been expecting him in the next few weeks to drop of the potion stock she required for the next school year, she hadn’t expecting him quite so soon.

“Severus, I wasn’t expecting you.”

“I require your assistance.” He said making to move past her and into the wider hospital wing.

She frowned but stood to follow him, “What have you done to yourself now?” She asked sternly. She had treated him many times over the years, usually when pranks of the Marauder’s had resulted in him being injured.

“Not me Poppy.” He said gently placing Harry on a bed and quickly casting privacy and silencing wards around them. Though the school was mostly empty except for Professors and ghosts, it wouldn’t do for Harry’s location and current state get out.

“What do you-” she looked down at the tiny child on the bed and took in the state of his face, “What in _Merlin’s name_ has happened to that poor child?!” she demanded drawing her wand and beginning to cast diagnostic charms on him.

“Abuse.” He stated simply pulling his shrunken potions kit from his robe pocket and unshrinking it. It would be quicker than going over to the store cupboard.

“What have you given him so far?” She questioned a full diagnostic history of the boy began writing itself in the air in front of them.

“Nothing so far,” Severus replied curtly, “He was in such a state that I didn’t want to give him anything until I knew exactly what was wrong. He passed out before I could even think about giving him a pain reliever.”

Poppy nodded and snatched the parchment up as it _finally_ stopped recording injuries. “Oh, the poor child…” she muttered as her eyes quickly scanned the list. “Multiple broken bones which were not healed correctly. Deep cuts and bruising. Punctured lung. Concussion. Malnutrition. Dehydration. Infections…” she looked about ready to cry, “I don’t think he would have made it much longer if you didn’t get him.”

Ice settled in the pit of Severus’ stomach. _Sweet Merlin._ Harry Potter, the most beloved boy in the Wizarding World might have died at the hands of those muggles. He would have never made it to Hogwarts.

“I need Dreamless Sleep, a pain reliever and bruise paste.” Poppy briskly took the potions as Severus handed them over and begun spelling them into the tiny child. Severus stepped back as she begun casting spells to fix some of his internal injuries and clean up the dried blood from his skin. “Who is he?”

Severus didn’t know whether or not to answer. She was bound to eventually spot the scar, but he was unsure about what Albus wanted to do about people knowing that Harry was here.

“It’s Harry Potter, Poppy.” Came Albus’ voice from behind them.

She whipped around, “This is Harry?!” she cried, “But he’s five, this child looks no older than three!”

The Headmaster nodded sadly, “I know.” He sounded exhausted.

Poppy looked green but turned back to her patient. Severus could hear her muttering curses under her breath. He was sure he heard something about killing abusive arseholes.

“Where are you going to place him now?” Severus asked as he watched Madame Pomfrey shed Harry bloodied clothes and rubbed bruise paste gently over the myriad of deep purple bruise marring Harry’s skin. “He can’t be returned _there._ ”

“I quite agree,” Albus responding stroking his beard in thought, “Regardless of their treatment the blood wards are completely gone. Not even I could resurrect them.”

The potions master said nothing and simply raised an eyebrow at his employer.

“He is still very much sought after in our world, families like the Malfoy’s wouldn’t hesitate to try and stake claim to him if it was made public that he was in need of a new guardian.”

Severus felt his lip curl, he could only imagine the spoilt little brat that would walk through the Great Hall doors in 6 years if he were raised by Lucius and Narcissa. Yes, Draco was his godson, but he wasn’t blind to the fact that he was a spoilt brat. Not to mention, he had seen Lucius’ treatment of house elves… there was no way that Harry would feel safe growing up around that. “Indeed,” he conceded, “I assume you have a plan that avoids that outcome.”

Albus chuckled, “Indeed.” He mimicked, though not maliciously, “We need somewhere that Death Eaters would not expect, with someone who had the skills to protect him should a need arise and preferably with a connection to his parents.”

The dour man held back from rolling his eyes, Merlin he _hated_ when the Headmaster did this. Talking around the subject and not getting to the damn point. It wasn’t hard to deduce he was angling for Severus to volunteer. While he had already decided as much in his head, he wasn’t about to roll over, he still had a reputation.

“Lupin.” He stated simply.

Albus shot him an exasperated look and Severus couldn’t stop his lips twitching at the corners. “ _Severus_.”

“You ask a lot of me old man.” He said quietly but there was a distinct lack of bite to the statement as he gazed upon Harry’s healing face, the black eye now a light mottled yellow, almost completely healed.

“I do,” he agreed, “It would mean stepping away from your spying duties in the future, I am unsure if He would take you back when he returns regardless. I suspect Lucius would throw you under the bus at a moment’s notice.”

Severus had to agree, Lucius had claimed bewitchment for his actions and no doubt in order to get back in the Dark Lord’s favour he would step on anyone and everyone he could. While he would feel distinctly useless in future without his duties as spy, he couldn’t deny that the idea of not being tortured on a semi-frequent basis would be a welcome result.

“I’ll also relieve you of your teaching contract.”

This was unexpected. Part of the deal he had made to become a spy in the first place was to be the potions professor.

“I’d like you to return when Harry starts Hogwarts if possible, but I fear I can no longer force you. You are more than making up for past mistakes by taking him into your home.”

Severus nodded slowly, “I’ll make that decision closer to the time. We both know I loathe teaching but-”

“-but you may wish to keep an eye on your young charge.”

He snorted, “Merlin _forbids_ he has a mischievous streak like his father.”

Albus smiled sadly, “I fear Harry won’t have much of a disobedient streak at all…”

This sobered Severus right up. That was probably true, he very much doubted that Harry would step a toe out of line for a long while. Curse the Dursley’s.

Madame Pomfrey pocketed her tin of bruise balm, spelled on some hospital pyjamas onto Harry and made her way over to the two men. “He’s as healed as I can achieve today.” She informed them, “His internal injuries will heal overnight, as will the bruises. He’ll need a scar cream, though I’m unsure if the worst of the scars on his back will ever completely fade. He’ll probably need a pain reliever a few times a day and a nutrient potion and stomach soother with every meal and he’ll need many smaller meals throughout the day to slowly grow his stomach.”

Severus nodded, filing away this information and making mental notes to get brewing tomorrow night when Harry was in bed, he had these potions on hand but not in the quantities he would need.

“Tomorrow night he’ll need a dose of Skele-Grow and Dreamless Sleep to repair the damage done to his bones and the morning after a bath in a muscle relaxant would be a good idea.” She continued. “He’ll need a bone strengthener but I wouldn’t want to include that into the regimen until the frequency of his pain reliever potions are decreased for fear of valerian root overdose.”

“I’ve been experimenting with a valerian root free pain reliever,” Severus said thoughtfully, “It’s an increasingly common allergy.”

“If you can perfect it, it would definitely expediate his recovery.” Poppy smiled, “If not he’ll need to be careful not to hurt himself, his bones are very fragile, and he’s had enough breaks in his life the poor dear.”

“Is he safe to move?” Albus queried, “I’d like to get him away from Hogwarts and to Severus’ home.”

Poppy nodded, “Yes. He’ll need to be carried carefully. He still has injuries but he’s had a dose of Dreamless Sleep so he won’t wake until about 8am tomorrow.” She cocked her head, “Though with how tiny he is, he might sleep a little longer.” She added in an afterthought.

Severus didn’t reply but stepped towards Harry and carefully scooped the boy up once more. He was distressingly light.

“Here.” Albus said holding out a dark green fluffy blanket that he had conjured from somewhere. Severus accepted the blanket and wrapped it around Harry’s infirmary-issued pyjama clad form to keep him warm.

Poppy escorted them to the floo in her office. “I’m going to be stopping by to check in every few days while he’s healing.” She informed Severus, her tone leaving no room for arguing.

“I would expect nothing less.” He replied with a small smile. In truth he was thankfully that she would, he was going to be left alone with an injured five-year-old and felt more than a little out of his depth.

Adjusting his bundle, Severus allowed Albus to toss some floo powder into the fireplace and stepped through to his house in Spinners End.

Looking around the small living room he stepped aside to allow Albus to step through and when he did, he indicated with his shoulder to the staircase. “First door on the left at the top of the stairs.”

While his house was small and probably a little drab it was at least clean, though cluttered. Glancing around as he followed Albus he realised he was going to have to put some of his things away or behind anti-child wards. Some of the objects lying around weren’t particularly child-friendly.

Meeting Albus in his spare room he noticed that the walls had been charmed a soft blue colour and the bedding was a similar colour. It was infinitely better than the drab off-white that it was, though it would probably change again when he found out what Harry’s favourite colours were. He _really_ hoped that it wouldn’t be red and gold. Albus turned down the sheets and Severus stepped forward to gently lay Harry down before pulling the bedding up around him and laying the green blanket over him and tucking him in.

Severus stepped back and stood beside Albus looking down at the fragile little boy tucked into his spare bed, he was so tiny dwarfed even more by the size of the bed.

“I want to kill them.” He stated simply, not needing to clarify who he was talking about.

Albus sighed heavily, he looked to have aged 20 years in the space of the evening, “I am not at all surprised to hear you say that.”

The Headmaster of course understood how much he loathed child abusers, knew his history with his father. “Are they going to face retribution for what they have done or am I going to have to take matters into my own hands?” he questioned quietly resisting the urge to move forward and brush the hair back from Harry’s forehead. Apart from earlier when he had held Harry to stop him collapsing Severus wanted to ensure that all touch, he gave the child was when he was alert and consensual until there was trust between them. From what he could see Harry didn’t know touch that didn’t hurt, and that fear wasn’t going to go away by him forcing contact between them even when he was asleep.

“I have plans in mind for them.” Albus assured him his voice steely and cold, a drastic shift from his usual cheery tone. It was moments like this that Severus was reminded that he was the wizard that the Dark Lord feared and that lead a war against the dark. He was more than a kindly Headmaster and if he didn’t revile the Dursley’s with every fibre of his being he would almost feel sorry for them. “Speaking of which I must go and begin proceedings for changing over custody to you.”

“I doubt the Ministry is going to be very happy about an ex-Death Eater taking in their saviour…” Severus said acerbically. “And I doubt even your sway will change them of that belief.”

“Probably not but I shall be dealing with the Goblins instead. Nothing the Ministry can do if it’s buried in their paperwork.”

“How Slytherin of you Albus.”

The old man gave him a droll look, not remotely amused by the statement.

“I take then by using the Goblin’s you intend for me to blood adopt him?” he questioned quietly. He wasn’t entirely sure how he felt about that. Part of him was ecstatic that he’d finally be getting what he wanted, a son with Lily, but the other doubted strongly that Harry would actually _want_ to stay with him. Freedom from the Dursley’s or not. He was not a particularly kind man, he would try for Harry’s sake, he needed some semblance of warmth in order to help him heal.

“That would be the ideal plan, yes.” Albus replied, “We will broach that in a little while when Harry is more settled, no one will know where Harry is anyway his location has never been publicised.”

“Indeed.”

With one last lingering look at the boy, Severus led Albus from Harry’s room to his fireplace. Albus placed a hand on his shoulder and gave it a comforting squeeze.

“I’ll be back in the next couple of days to help strengthen your wards even more than they are now.” He glanced back towards the direction of where the child lay sleeping. “Look after him Severus.”

He nodded in response, “Don’t let them off easy.” He replied.

A wry smile was sent in his direction before the Headmaster disappeared in a flash of green.

Now alone in the silent house Severus let out a bone-weary sigh and stalked over to his cabinet to fetch himself a stiff drink. It had been one hell of an evening and quite frankly he was exhausted. He wasn’t one to be overly comfortable with change. He had a set routine that he had kept for a long time, he got up every morning at the same time, wore the same robes, at the same meals, taught the same classes… and now everything had been flipped on its head. The future was completely unpredictable, and he didn’t like it. He was used to control. His equilibrium was completely off, it was reminiscent of learning Lily had been killed when his whole world had fallen apart.

Throwing back the drink Severus stalked from the room and began getting ready for bed, he wanted to be awake before Harry was due to awaken. He didn’t want him waking in a strange place alone and although he wasn’t sure if Harry would remember him through the haze of pain it would be good to have a familiar face there. He was already making a mental list of things he was going to need to do; groceries, getting books and toys and clothes for a child, assessing Harry’s level of development, brewing the array of potions Harry would need to catch up in weight and height. He sighed, what had he signed up for? Sure, he had taken abused students under his wing at Hogwarts, but they were 11 at the youngest and had a level of independence Harry did not. Not to mention he doubted any of the cases he had previously dealt with had been this severe. Child abuse wasn’t common in the Wizarding World and the severity of what Harry had had to survive within 4 short years was unheard of… Would he even be able to recover from this? The physical injuries could be healed through potions and physical therapy but the mental scars, the verbal abuse… would he be okay developmentally?! He was getting ahead of himself. Slipping into bed he lay back and _noxed_ the light. He would see how Harry was in the morning and they would take it one day at a time.

**Author's Note:**

> They said the name of the fic in the fic! Thanks for reading!


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